I love how the Holy Father goes out to those who have been excluded and exploited, praising their culture and heritage, showing them off to the world, as it were - restoring their dignity.

I'm impressed with this story from Mass with the priests and religious:

Pope Francis referred to Bishop Vasco de Quiroga (1536) in his homily as ‘the Spaniard who became an Indian’. One who spoke of these indigenous people “as being sold, humiliated and homeless in marketplaces, picking up scraps of bread from the ground“. And one the Pope went on to say who far from being tempted to resignation succeeded in kindling the faith in the midst of so much ‘paralyzing injustice’.

[Pope Francis on Tuesday celebrated Holy Mass at a stadium in Morelia, capital of Michoacán, urging Mexican priests, religious and seminarians not to be resigned to the paralyzing injustice of violence, corruption and drug trafficking. - VR]

I hope we all take these things to heart, and strive to avoid complacency and resignation, as well as the 'measuring' out of mercy - or trying to put some sort of 'price' on it. Those who show mercy, receive mercy - those who analyze it and measure and weigh it receive the measure by which they measure. We need to open our hearts and not only quit accepting praise from men, but quit being afraid of them.

1 comment:

God our Father is with his people. Despite all the injustices and rejections, the poor of the earth in Mexico remain vibrant and strong and faithful. I read that Chiapas is the least Catholic state in Mexico due to the protestant evangelicals making many inroads and conversions but yet despite that, many indigenous people remain faithful to their Catholic roots.Let us pray that all of us will remain faithful despite the many trials of life. I will look to the example of our Holy Father to press on and to grow in my faith.

Veritatis Splendor

About Me

... My idea of what I am is falsified by my preoccupation about what I do. And my illusions about myself are bred by contagion from the illusions of other men. We all seek to emulate one anothers imagined greatness....If I do not know who I am, it is because I think I am the sort of person everyone around me wants me to be. I have asked myself whether I wanted to become what everybody else seems to want to become... only to realize that I do not admire what everyone else seems to admire. I have only thus begun to live after all... But it is very late. - Adapted from a quote by Thomas Merton

Holy Face of Jesus

Show us your face and we shall be saved. "Each soul is the object of My special love. That is why I am so grateful to those who are resourceful and bringing back sinners to Me. Keep this in mind then. I gave My life for them in the most atrocious torture, for these poor beloved ones. A humble repentance, and they are already on My heart. So speak gently to them. Speak with tenderness. A brusque remark could drive them farther away." - He and I

Prayer to St. Michael

Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle, be our protection against the malice and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him we humbly pray; and do thou, O Prince of the Heavenly host, by the power of God, thrust into hell Satan and all evil spirits who wander through the world for the ruin of souls. Amen.